David Ortiz Has Bizarre Take On Fernando Tatis Jr. Suspension

Everyone has an opinion on the Fernando Tatis Jr. situation. David Ortiz's take is a doozy.

Tatis was handed an 80-game suspension for violating the MLB's performance-enhancing drugs policy after testing positive for a steroid found in a ringworm medication.

The San Diego Padres slugger led the National League with 42 home runs last season but has been sidelined this year with an injury. At just 23 years old, Tatis is one of the league's rising stars which is exactly why Big Papi thinks his suspension is a mistake.

Then what should Major League Baseball have done? Well, Ortiz thinks it should've just kept that massive piece of news under wraps.

Wait. Is he suggesting a "Hey, MJ, go spend a year playing baseball instead of us suspending you for gambling" type situation?

Ortiz Makes An Interesting — Albeit Unclear — Argument

Hopefully, we get some more context from Ortiz, because his comments could be interpreted in two ways. The first is that he didn't like the way MLB released the news about Tatis' suspension.

Nothing out of the ordinary happened as far as how the news was released. MLB put out a press release and so did the Padres. Then the MLBPA released one on behalf of Tatis.

Since there's not much to go on with that first explanation, could he be saying that MLB should've looked the other way and not suspended Tatis?

Ortiz has a point that having one of the league's most exciting players off the field for almost half a season isn't a good way to grow the game. Yet at the same time, if there's any sport that knows the long-term consequences of sweeping things — particularly PEDs — under the rug, it's Major League Baseball.

Baseball in the '90s was awesome. Mark McGwire, Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, and company were hitting ridiculous amounts of homers. In retrospect — and with the benefit of hindsight and congressional hearings — we now look back on that era in a completely different light.

We know 'roids and the occasional corked bat (*cough*Sammy*cough*) helped juice the number of home runs in that era. While fun to watch, the scandals in the years that followed hurt baseball in the long run.

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